


The Grayson Trap, or Operation: Batception

by Ptwifty



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25341379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ptwifty/pseuds/Ptwifty
Summary: Remember that time that Bruce died in the old continuity but really didn't? Remember how terrible most of the Batfam was treated? Well it still happened here but I think a family should actually act like a family.Dick Grayson has a plan. He's not the best Batman. It's good that he won't turn into Bruce, but Bruce's Batman is what kept Gotham from losing it's collective mind. He's got a plan to fix some burnt bridges and fix the Bat problem once and for all... but that's for the next chapter. Enjoy filler, fluff, and family.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In the original continuity, Steph would be Batgirl at this point in time. But "Batgirl" in this chapter is Cass. This is the farthest I'm stretching canon. Steph has no Bat and has been running around as Spoiler for now. Just roll with it.

“Hello? Testing? Testing 1 2… testing 1 2.”

“Oh my god, you are _so_ old-school.”

“Shh Ste… Spoiler… ugh never mind. He’s starting now so chill out for a bit.”

“Don’t blow this for us, Red.”

“Alright. Hi. Nightwing here. I know, I know, I’m in civvies. Well the codenames are just in case someone bugged one of you guys. If they have visuals, well, we’re screwed, but if it’s just audio they won’t be able to tell. Hopefully.”

“I’m amazed how much paranoia he programmed into you, Wing.”

“We don’t have time for banter, Hood, so shut it.”

“What was that, you little gremlin?!”

“Alright, both of you enough.”

“Tt. Sorry, Gor- Oracle.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.”

“Alright, let’s start from the beginning. So a few months ago, Batman was… he was annihilated by Darkeseid’s Omega Beams. We all know that part.”

Nightwing took a breath. Even in the video, you could see the bags under his eyes. It looked like he hadn’t slept in ages, which made complete sense since his adopted dad was dead. His voice was raspy, his hair unkempt… well that wasn’t new, but he would at least comb it normally. It’d been about a long time.

“We were all devastated. Yes, Red Hood too, even if he won’t admit it.”

“HEY!”

“But uh… hm,” he looked over at some notes he had on the table nearby him, probably the same one that held the bat food normally. “Right, so Red Robin was… he’d always been at Batman’s side, yeah? He took it the worse. Insisting that Batman wasn’t dead, trying to get us to believe what we thought was impossible.”

He stumbled for a second, but Batgirl rushed over and caught him, propping him up. “Thanks.” She nodded. “Red Robin, as you know, disappeared for a while. Told us that he would prove us all wrong.” His voice sounded raspier than before. His gaze unfocused, his complexion somewhat pale, and he looked extremely tense.

“He chose a bad time. You were all there when it happened. Thomas Elliot- Hush, his face just like… you know.” Batgirl walked off camera, and a few seconds later a water bottle flew into view right into his hand. “Nice throw.”

What Nightwing had been talking about was how Thomas Elliot, the villain known as Hush and one of the few people who was aware of Batman’s identity because of their shared past, had gotten plastic surgery to look like Bruce Wayne. He’d begun to masquerade as Wayne before Nightwing and a bunch of Batman’s allies forced his hand and threatened him to keep up the facade for the public eye.

“But with everything going to hell around us, Red Robin… he did the impossible. Found absolute proof that Batman was alive. Though the person that helped him isn’t exactly a friend.”

In the background you could hear Red Hood suddenly coughing… hard. “ _Cough cough_ sugar daddy _cough_ Ra’s al Ghul _cough cough cough_.” and Nightwing, who had just taken a swig of water, spit it out and started coughing himself. Except for Robin, you could hear everyone laughing.

The video cut there and resumed once again with Nightwing, who looked a bit better. While you couldn’t tell if it was day or night in the Batcave, the first Boy Wonder looked like he’d recovered a bit of energy. He also now was sitting in front of the Bat-Computer, which was a blank, dark screen.

“Uh, hi. Anyways, Robin came back to Gotham with a whole thing of evidence. It was kind of scary how much the leader of the League of Assassins wanted to help him. Though we all know we should know better than to immediately trust our villains and rogues.”

“I didn’t exactly ask for his help, thank you very much. A whole assassin league grudge match, a journey across the world... well at least I got the info I was looking for.”

“You don’t have a SPLEEN anymore! And that was after you pushed everyone away from your life! And don’t even get me started on how literally we were all targeted after you backstabbed Ra’s?!”

“Spoiler… yeah we’ll go with that for now. Spoiler, please let me finish this. I’m only doing one take so let’s just get this over with. Please, let’s get this over with. I really want to get Penny-One’s spaghetti.”

A muffled “ouch” was uttered by Spoiler.

“I’ll flick you again if you don’t shush” came Batgirl’s voice. A grumble that sounded like a confirmation came from Spoiler and Nightwing flashed a smile at what was likely where Batgirl was sitting.

“Anyways, let’s finally get to the point” Nightwing said, and there came a few woops and scattered claps from the Batkids. Nightwing pressed a button on the Bat Computer and a bunch of images flashed up.

Paintings, cave drawings, and things that seemed irrelevant at first glance. And then the first picture zoomed in. A bat symbol in the cave. Something that had clearly been there for centuries. Further proof included the Batman from the Blackest Night incident that had turned out to not be Batman at all. The corpse of a clone of Batman created by Darkseid that everyone had assumed to be Batman until Nightwing had put it in a Lazarus Pit.

“You’ve all been sent the evidence. Batman is alive. But finding him won’t be easy. Red?” Red Robin walked over.

“He’s trapped in time. The Omega Beams never killed him, but they sent him far away. Based off of the cave photo, probably to the near beginning of time. We don’t know why. Even the New Gods don't fully understand Darkseid's powers. I hope he didn't have a plan that fucks us all over.” A small gasp came from Nightwing. A snort of laughter from the Red Hood. Apparently Red Robin didn't care that this was being sent to almost every single super hero and vigilante.

“Nightwing hasn’t been a great Batman. But Red Hood can't be Batman with his violent tendencies. Robin... even if he wasn't a tween he's a pain in the f-” he never got to finish. Red Robin was hit by a flying water bottle that was half full. “Ow! Alright, geez! Ow. Ow.” Batgirl walked over, pulled him away and picked up her water bottle from the floor of the cave.

Nightwing took over. “We have to talk later about you cursing on film. Anyways, yeah I haven’t been the best Batman. But we can salvage this while we look for the real Batman. And today is where my largest, most over the top plan comes into action. This is how we'll restore balance to Gotham.” He pressed another button. The screen changed.

The mask of the cowl he had been using as Batman was on the left side. Under that was Robin’s face, along with Spoiler and a young African-American boy with a fade. But on the right was a different cowl, one that seemed almost… sinister. Under that one was a redheaded girl with glasses (not Oracle, mind you), Batgirl, and a girl whose hair was dyed blue in a mohawk. Under the cowls in a separate column were the faces of Oracle, Red Hood, Batwoman, Azrael, Red Robin, Catwoman, Huntress, the Question, and an African-American young adult with a buzzcut. Right under the faces in bold letters, "+ the Network" was also written.

Nightwing’s smile was so bright he looked like himself from the first day he suited up as Robin. “Welcome… to Operation Batception.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We've gotten down to business. Operation: Batception is now coming into play, presented by Dick and Tim, with the other providing helpful(?) commentary. While Bruce is gone, the Bats and Birds are about to go wild.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t want chapter 2 to be too long so it’s kind of a cliffhanger, sorry! I promise that chapter 3 will finally address the rest of part 4 and introduce part 5.  
> (Edit: So apparently because I'm putting this in chapters, the end notes only show up on the newest chapter. I'm gonna leave the formerly end note commentary at the beginning of the next chapter. So sorry!)

“I still think we could have named it better.” Tim hopped into the chair. Dick sighed, rolled his eyes, ruffled Tim’s hair and went off camera. Tim opened his mouth to speak but the slurping of spaghetti cut him off.

“Oh, lord. Nightwing, would you please take off the mic on your shirt? No, actually on second thought let me handle it. Your hands are full and we only have two of these.” Tim laughed a bit as Barbara swatted Dick’s fork away from his mouth as she tried to take the mic off.

Operation: Batception was replaced by a group photo of the Batfam in what was arguably the worst photo, even worse than the photo taken of Dick and tiny Jason both on the ground, butt up, face against the floor, and a sled that made a dent in the wall that was parallel to one of the manor’s staircases. It had remained a secret in Babs’ photo album until Dinah had seen it. And once Dinah saw something, she told  _ everyone _ .

But this photo was even worse. Tim’s Red Robin outfit that looked way too much like Dr. Midnight’s costume, Steph’s Spoiler costume that only covered her mouth but not her eyes and long hair, one of many of Jason’s awful masks, specifically the red pill mask, and Dick in the Batman costume before Alfred had properly tailored it for him so it looked quite off. Cass was the only one that looked natural in her costume, mostly because she had no other costume. Damian and Babs were costumeless, but Damian’s scowl and horridly self-cut hair were extremely noticeable and Babs looked like she hadn’t slept a wink the night before. The photo was supposed to be the first of a timeline of photos leading up to finding Bruce but after the first photo everyone agreed this was the worst idea in a long time.

“So, uh, as you guys can tell, we didn’t take it well at all.” Tim didn’t even bother looking at the photo. Jason and Damian’s groans were very audible. So was what sounded like Steph slamming her head into her arms on the table.

“Jim Gordon pretty much figured out that Nightwing was playing Batman. Hopefully he hasn’t figured out our identities… well, he wouldn’t be the worst person to know. But I digress. The fact that he figured it out is a warning flag. You’ve seen the uptick in crime in Gotham. New villains and more idiots. Which can but doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive. They too know the Bat isn’t in town. City. Whatever.” Cass’ snickering could be heard followed by Babs shushing her.

“Which is where Operation: Batception comes into play. Uh, check what I assume is going to be a large textbox at the bottom of the screen because Nightwing doesn’t want us to say anything risking our identities out loud, even if even one villain gets a hold of a copy of this we’re fucked.”

“LANGUAGE, YOUNG MAN”

“Oh god, please don’t ever yell with a mouth of meatball ever again. The tomato sauce barely missed my jacket.” Red Hood sounded very pained at the thought of his jacket being ruined. Damian’s chuckle followed.

The screen changed to a full view of Dick’s Batman outfit and Damian. “So part one of Operation: Batception. Make Nightwing play an even more jovial Batman. As ridiculous as that sounds, this is perfect. The villains won’t see him coming and with the demon brat, sorry, Robin, will balance out the aggressiveness. Now, why we’re doing that… even though this is ridiculous as hell, is because this Batman is needed during the day. We’ve seen that villains are for some reason starting to act without darkness. And not just our D-list villains like Kite-Man, but more dangerous ones like the Flamingo. The gangs are jumping in on it too, which means we need more support.”

“Nobody’s gonna expect a Batman to laugh in the middle of a fight before kicking them in the face.”

“Hood isn’t wrong. I think I’m going to enjoy this quite nicely.”

Tim shuddered. “Uh, part two.” The screen changed again. This was a full photo of a rather sinister Batman costume. Jason whistled. Everything about it was terrifying. A heavy-duty utility belt, reinforced gloves and boots, clearly bulletproof armor, and… was the cowl’s kevlar gleaming? “The Batman of the night. This would give anyone nightmares. Nightwing… he’s not all sunshine and rainbows. With this suit we hope to see a Batman that can be more ruthless. We’re still dealing with monsters like the Joker. And for every Rogue that’s well, gone rogue...” Damian’s groan was loud. “New, scarier villains have taken their place. But again, we’ll get back to this later.” 

“Part three is where things get strange. Everyone in the third box will be working somewhat separately from the main op. I’m going to alternate being with the Titans in California and running around here in Gotham, Oracle has taken over the cave and has the Birds, Azrael and Batwoman are going to be running around like normal, some of our new allies will be in and out, and the Network is going to be helping us keep an eye on global threats that are obsessed with beating Batman and his allies. Seriously, he pisses off people wherever he goes.” A collective murmur of agreement came from everyone off-camera.

“Now, the other thing the people in the third group is doing will be assisting the League in leads on Batman before they try to go back in time to find him. Because we won’t be directly part of the main plan, we’re flexible and can assist outside of Gotham without worrying about leaving it undefended.”

“Did you say ‘we’ can assist outside of Gotham? Red, you’re not leaving the U.S. again. You’ve had enough problems internationally.” Tim grimaced at that. An audible “ha” came from Damian.

“You better watch your attitude, Robin, because I assure you that if you keep acting like that you’ll have just as many problems.” Tim smirked in Damian’s direction and then his eyes went wide. The camera toppled as a guttural screech came from the youngest Wayne as he charged at Tim at full speed, jumping from the table.

The screen cut to Dick, who had a bit of spaghetti sauce on his shirt. “They’re fine. A few scrapes but nothing serious.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh. 

“Part four is where I introduce the new changes in the already established vigilantes of Gotham and how they fit into parts one and two. Part one is Team Day, essentially. I’ll be working with Robin to have him get a better feel for Gotham. You saw Spoiler in that section, but she’s retiring that identity.” He walked to the side and Steph walked into the camera. Under her a large text box appeared. “Stephanie Brown: Spoiler, Robin.”

“Meet the Batgirl of Team Day” Steph’s costume was definitely an homage to her eggplant-colored outfit she’d used in the past. Her costume was similar to Babs’ old costume but definitely had that touch of modern crime fighting. And lots and lots of the eggplant shade of purple, from the sides of her outfit to one entire side of her cape.

“She’s proven herself time and time again, even if Batman didn’t agree. Well, he didn’t agree with a lot of things so it’s kind of moot.” Steph snorted and high-fived Dick before walking back off camera.

“Originally I wanted to give her another chance at Robin but she declined because the other Batgirls, current and former, thought she was ready. And I’m not about to argue with 2 people who could kick my butt in many different ways.” Scattered clapping once again could be heard off-camera.

“As for our current Batgirl…” Cass walked over with a new costume on. “Cassandra Cain-Wayne: Batgirl” Somehow in between the time she had last appeared on camera she had changed. Superheroes and vigilantes set record times for changing out of their civilian outfits even without a speed-based metagene. Then you had people like Dinah who were cheating because their regular outfits and “costumes” were the same thing. And still managed to keep a relatively secret identity.

“The Black Bat model Batgirl outfit for Team Night, now a bit more…”

“Modern?”

“Maybe. I don’t know what modern crime fighting is supposed to look like.” Dick looked slightly embarrassed. To be fair, the guy was a fashion disaster. The sections of him in his various, awful costumes were always the most traumatic parts of the old photo albums. Especially the candids that Tim added when he found the camera from his pre-Robin days.

Cass did a twirl and her new cape followed. "The domino is spiky." Cass' smile had always been bright. Being able to see it without a mask over her mouth made it even more sunny. Yes, a Bat can smile. Contrary to popular belief. Mostly because of Bruce.

“Your ears were spiky. It’s not  _ that _ different.” Tim muttered in a distracted, distant voice.

“You  _ wish _ you could look this good.” Cass’s smile had turned into a smirk that could only be used against siblings. Dick held a hand up to his mouth, probably suppressing a laugh.

At that moment Damian yelled “Nightwing, the battery icon on your video camera is flashing re-” and the screen went blank.

**Author's Note:**

> I promise that next chapter I'll use their actual names. In hindsight, not my best idea but I don't feel like going back and changing every single one.


End file.
